Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira to plead guilty to stealing classified files and posting them on social media platform Discord
- The 22-year-old Air National Guardsman was charged with six counts of willful withholding of national defense information and subsequent leaking of it
- Teixeira previously pleaded not guilty, but on Thursday prosecutors requested a change to the plea hearing for next week
The Massachusetts AA National Guard member accused of leaking top-secret military documents on social media will plead guilty in federal court, according to documents filed Thursday.
Jack Teixeira previously pleaded not guilty to charges surrounding his alleged posting of classified documents on the social media platform Discord, but prosecutors have now asked a federal judge to schedule a plea modification hearing for Monday.
No other details about the upcoming hearing or Teixeira’s plea status were immediately available.
Jack Teixeira previously pleaded not guilty to charges surrounding his alleged posting of classified documents on the social media platform Discord, but prosecutors have now asked a federal judge to schedule a plea modification hearing for Monday.
FBI agents arrest Jack Teixeira, a U.S. Air Force National Guard operative, in connection with an investigation into the online leak of classified U.S. documents, outside a home in this still image from a video in North Dighton, Massachusetts, U.S. April 13, 2023
Teixeira, a Massachusetts native, has been locked up since his arrest last April over the leak that roiled the military and the Biden administration as they tried to limit the damage done internationally.
The allies also had to be assured that their secrets were well protected by the US government.
Teixeira, 22, was indicted on six counts of intentionally withholding national defense information and subsequently leaking it.
The young man was accused of sharing secret documents about Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine on Discord, a social media platform used mainly by video game enthusiasts.
Investigators say Teixeira was in charge of a group on the platform called Thug Shaker Central, which discussed guns and wars.
Teixeira joined the Air National Guard in 2019 and started sharing military secrets with his Discord friends last January.
Authorities say he first typed up classified material, but soon moved to sharing photos of files titled SECRET and TOP SECRET.
Before he was discovered, he worked as a ‘cyber transport systems specialist’: an IT specialist for military communications networks.
Teixeira was discovered on April 6 – the same day the New York Times published a story about the leaked documents.
Apparently the National Guard had looked up the word “leak” in a classified system in an attempt to glean information about the leak investigation, the FBI said.
Teixeira, 22, was indicted on six counts of intentionally retaining national defense information and subsequently leaking it
The US Department of Justice has released evidence collected during its investigation into the US Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents online
Prosecutors say Teixeira continued leaking government secrets after receiving a warning from superiors about mishandling classified information and viewing information he was not authorized to view.
Even after the warning, he was warned again for searching information not directly related to the intelligence field.
Ahead of a possible trial, authorities have not provided much insight into possible motives for Teixeira’s behavior.
Conversations between the 22-year-old and members of the Discord group indicate that his actions may have been motivated more by bravado than any specific ideology.